marketing

When you have an open house, you want to create a good impression. Make people feel welcome so that they will come in. If you want them to stay a while, you have to make it easy to find things and pleasant to be there.

Your website is just the same. It is your unique space that reflects who you are. It sends an impression of what you do, how you do it, and what it is like to work with you. It’s your one shot to make a connection so make your website a reflection of your house.

When a prospective customer pulls up to an open house, the first thing they take in is the overall appeal of the outside. What’s the neighborhood like, the yard, the overall appearance of the outside of the house. This is what we call “curb appeal.” If it looks appealing from the outside, it increases your chance that they will come in.

This is your main page of your website. You want it to be neat, trim, color coordinated, and have a single overall theme. Pictures are like your landscaping. They pretty the place up. Too much, too flashy, or too unkempt a look is NOT appealing. Keep it simple. Your navigation buttons are like your walkways. They lead your prospects to where they want to go. If it isn’t clear what your site contains or how to get there, your prospects may just drive on by without stopping.

Once the prospect is inside, you want to give them a feel for who you are and what you offer. After all, they are considering buying YOU! So, show them pictures that put you in your best light. Don’t use photos with poor lighting, ill-fitting costume, weird facial expressions, or things that appeal to a small sector of the population. I am not saying you can’t use your favorite snake shot. If you decide to do that, just confine it to one small shot and use more generic ones for the rest of the site.

Content is still king. People want their questions answered quickly. If they don’t find what they are looking for quickly on your website, they will move on. Content also gives people a reason to stay and browse. If they see an interesting article headline, they may read it. And the next one. And the next one. The longer they stay, the better your chances of forming a relationship. Give them what they are looking for.

What you don’t want ANYWHERE are messy graphics that are hard to read, tons of fonts and colors in your text (think “tacky Christmas lights”), irrelevant content, rants, or too much on one page (think “sensory overload”). Keep it clean and simple. You want them to be able to have a sense of who you are and what you do and then plop that into their vision of what they want. If you create too rigid/clear a picture of yourself, they may not be able to imagine you at their event. Leave room for the imagination.

I was recently contacted by a stranger who was interested in having me sponsor her. The experience was the perfect example of what not to do when you are cold prospecting for employment. I share this experience to alert others on how to lose friends and alienate prospects. Here’s what you do.

Be Unprepared

Assume that a prospective employer who doesn’t know you will to ask for the standard stuff: work experience, references, demos, photos, and any other supporting information that can verify that you are who you say you are and can do the things you say you can. Annoy your prospect by being unprepared to provide these things in a nicely packaged, easy to navigate way.

Be Vague

It’s okay to be vague in an introduction. You don’t want to tell your life story to someone who isn’t interested, but once the prospect says, “Tell me more,” most want specific information. Ignore that! Especially if there are repeated requests.

Just say you can teach “everything.” Don’t have a list of classes offered with titles, descriptions, materials required, pre-requisites required, target audience, and the length of each class. Make the prospect guess what you are good at and how long it will take to teach the subject of your choice.

Tell her that you have taught “everywhere.” Don’t give names of people who have sponsored you. Don’t supply dates and locations. Since you assume everyone has heard of you, she will take your word for it.

Procrastinate

Make your prospect wait for follow-up. This will really make you look like you want the job and can go a great job!

Be Irrelevant

If you are trying to get a job teaching Middle Eastern dance, talk about your experience as an actor, your academic credentials, your modern dance experience or how much you love belly dance. The prospect is sure to see why that makes you qualified to teach belly dance. While you are at it, drop names of people you know in common who have nothing to do with belly dance. That is sure to help you make a connection.

Provided Out-dated Information

The best way to document your twenty-five year old career is to give twenty-five year old references. What you did twenty-five years ago demonstrates no growth or where your current strengths lie, but don’t worry. Remember, she will take your word for it.

Give References That Can’t Be Checked

While you are providing old references, make sure that at least one of them is for someone illustrious who is no longer with us. The rest should be for big name people for whom you have no contact information. If your luck holds out, she won’t have contact information for them either and the names you drop will be so impressive that she won’t even check to see if they know you.

Provide Misleading Information

If you performed in a workshop show, go ahead and list the teacher as a reference. After all, it’s true that the teacher was there when you danced at the show. Don’t worry that that the teacher may not have actually seen you perform or that performance has nothing to do with your ability to teach. With luck, that the connection will never be made.

If You Are Offered Less Than You Wanted, Be Insulted

Why accept a slot in a show if the prospect feels you are not worthy of a teaching slot? While it could mean that the sponsor is trying to get to know you and leave the door open for future opportunity, forget that. Small time offers are beneath you. It’s all or nothing!

When You Are Not Offered the Job, Be Rude to the Sponsor

If you are not offered a job, your talent is obviously being overlooked. Character obviously means nothing to this lady. It’s natural that your feelings are hurt, so you’re perfectly justified in blasting the sponsor for leading you on. Lecture her on how to behave professionally. Berate her for being suspicious because she actually checked your references. Read sinister things into her behavior, then burn your bridges. She’s not ever going to hire you anyway. The chances are slim that she will ever tell anyone about what happened or that anyone will ever ask her if they know you, so what the heck?

If you don’t want to lose friends and alienate prospects, the solution is easy. Just do the opposite of everything listed above: be prepared, be specific, be timely, keep it relevant, current, and factual. Provide references that can be contacted, are current, and can vouch for the abilities that you are advertising.

Remain upbeat and professional throughout the contact. Getting an offer to do something is a sign that the contact wants to work with you in some capacity. This could lead to better offers later.

Don’t be a mind-reader. There are many reasons why you might not get a job right then. The lack of an offer may have nothing to do with you or the material you submitted. If you are polite and professional, that leaves the door open for that sponsor to contact you later or recommend you to someone else who may be able to use your services.

The belly dance community is very small. Tales of ugly deeds are frequently spread among friends. When you alienate one person, it’s quite likely that you are alienating more. To keep your career healthy and long, behave professionally and give others the benefit of the doubt. If your credentials are indeed impressive, and your attitude professional, you won’t unnoticed.

There seems to be a lot of merging of adult entertainment styles with belly dance these days. Burlesque and pole dancing are popular variations. I don’t have any problem with that. Just don’t call it belly dance.

This isn’t an argument about whether or not each dance is a legitimate art form. This isn’t a debate about whether or not it takes talent to do them. It’s an observation that a folk dance rooted in the middle east that is traditionally performed by women for women, at weddings, as family entertainment does not belong in the same category. To mix adult entertainment with belly dance and call it “belly dance” strengthens the hootchie cootchie stereotypes.

For decades women have fought to get middle eastern dance accepted in cultural festivals, schools, churches, Girl Scout events, and other family friendly affairs. When the public sees a “belly dancing” show that includes semi-nudity, teasing, and suggestive movements, they don’t know that that is a different variety. They just know that it’s sexual, seductive, and may involve lots of men and tipping on the body.

If you engage in adult entertainment, please respect the work of those that have gone before you to educate the public. Please advertise your entertainment as being geared to ages 18+. Borrow heavily from belly dance if you like, but please don’t call it belly dance.